Linking Data To Save Lives

In 1999, the Colorado State Board of Education passed a precedent setting Resolution, which asked school personnel to use academic solutions to resolve problems with behavior, attention and learning, rather than psychotropic drugs. Since then, enormous progress has been made on the issue of protecting children and their families from forced psychiatric labeling and drugging, and to monitor the prescription rate of stimulants and other psychiatric drugs for children.  There have been 46 state bills or Resolutions; including the Colorado Resolution; in 28 states that have either passed, or are still pending action, across the United States.

The other precedent-setting legislation is the Connecticut law in 2001 that prevents school personnel from coercing or recommending that parents drug their children, especially as a condition for the child remaining in class.  Since then, another eight bills have been similarly introduced.

Of the bills introduced and/or passed, nine relate to prohibiting coercion in schools to have a child put on psychiatric drugs; eight establish investigations and/or tracking systems for children being psychiatrically labeled and drugged; five increase parental consent rights; four eliminate the threat of parents being criminally charged with “medical neglect” if they refuse to place their child on a psychiatric drug.